I am not sure if this is an algae, a fungus or lichen (or a combination of organisms – so i’m slightly stuck on a title), but some judicious googling has revealed from Wikipedia that lichen(s) can survive in extreme environments, are used as pollution indicators, provide nutrition for some animals and can survive for hundreds of years, recent research even suggesting that they can survive a short spell in outer space:

after fifteen days the lichens were brought back to earth and were found to be in full health with no discernible damage from their time in orbit.

copyright notice

jazz green is the author of all content (except where otherwise credited). please do not copy, duplicate or republish images or text from this website elsewhere without prior consent. please credit (give attribution) by including a web link back to the original page on this website. thank you.